The 330 mpg Aptera.

The 330 mpg Aptera Concept Vehicle. Yeah right. Hot on the heels of a supposed expose of the reason why GM really shelved its EV-1 electric car, what we need is yet another pie in the sky, three wheeler, futuristic, space age, hog wash concept car that will do a zillion miles on a gallon of gas. Am I sounding a tad cynical here? What we really need is a major manufacturer to stop pussy-footing around and produce a family car in volume that does over 100+ mpg, with a 100+ mile range, 75+ mph max and 5 hour recharge time. Is that a lot to ask? Oh, and at a reasonable man in the street price.

And no, I don’t believe that companies like Tesla are relevant to the story either, with their high end sports models. That’s an easy, low volume, low hanging fruit game.

Yes, well how about an electric car that gos more than 100 miles and does not have to be charged for 5 hours before it can go agian? I see only two solutions to that senerio. First a bold new design of hybrid which has an electric motor inline with a small gasoline engine. The electric motor could serve as an alternator when running on gas and could charge the batteries while on the road. Or, the electric motor could assist the gasoline engine while the batteries were fully charged. The electric motor could power the car by itself for those short trips around town and to work. Pluging the car into a standard AC outlet when you got home would allow you to do it all again the next day without burning much gas if any. And, it is possible to build solar panels into the car and produce as much as 240 watts which could move a small car about 7 miles after eight hours in the Sun.
Second solution is more simple. A pure electric car that is powered not by lots of heavy batteries, but mainly by a coil which picks up power from a transmitter along the highway. Tesla knew it could be done before any of you were born.
The problem with hybrids today is that they have a big heavy gasoline engine which turns a heavy generator which charges heavy batteries which runs a heavy electric motor all atached to a heavy metal frame with a heavy gas tank hung underneath it. We have to get the weight out of the car before we can expect better mileage. The gas engine in those things could move them without the generator or electric motor installed. Also, you can’t plug them in to a AC outlet. They are totaly dependent on gasoline.

Red

Craig, it does look as though it’s going to be weight that determines the future of the truly efficient car. But I just can’t believe that we’re here in the 21st century already and cars are still doing the same kind of mileage they’ve been doing for nearly a century. It stinks! :-)